Treasure Trouble
by hawthornegirl9
Summary: Two Half Bloods embark on an exciting adventure to discover treasure!


**Treasure Trouble**

I scanned the horizon, trying to spot any sign of possible civilisation. When my search provided hopeless, I trudged back to the bridge, where Thalia was waiting. She's a daughter of Zeus and one look at her made you think: "don't mess with this kid!" She wore a leather jacket and a ripped top that said 'death for Barbie' on it. It had a Barbie doll head with an arrow through it printed on in red. Her black jeans were ripped and faded and her arms were adorned with countless bracelets, bangles and hair bobbles. She had icy blue eyes that regarded you as though strategizing the best way to beat you up.

Suddenly there was this music. Like something I'd never heard before. Then I saw them. My mum in a satin cream dress, sitting on a picnic blanket in Central park. But my dad was there too. I've never seen them together before. As you should know I'm a daughter of Athena and my mum and I aren't, well, really in touch. I.E. She totally abandoned me! Luke was there too. But I've seen this picture before. When I went to the sea of monsters with Percy we ran into sirens. If it wasn't for Percy I wouldn't be here now, telling you about my experiences. Thalia, of course had no idea what was happening but she was obviously enjoying it. She grabbed the wheel and steered towards the captivating melody.

"SCREECH" went the side of the ship as it hit a rock. Then another. And another. The boat began to tip and my gut reaction was to jump. Thalia obviously had the same idea. We leaped off the side of the ship and toppled down… down… down…

The cold water shocked me back into full consciousness and I began wading back to shore, against the current, wishing old Seaweed Brain was here. Thalia was absolutely no help whatsoever, muttering soundlessly, eyes glazed over. The first thing I did when I returned to shore was collapse on the soft white sand.

Once I resurfaced, I set about making a beach hut. First I gathered up some driftwood and pushed them into the sand. Then I gathered some palm fronds and lay them in a criss-cross pattern. There, that's shelter taken care of. Now for food. I fingered my earrings, deep in thought. Then it hit me. If I tied the earrings to a piece of rope and a stick, then used a bit of crab as bait, I could catch fish! I set to work, twisting and tying, knotting and cutting. Soon I had a fat fish wriggling on the end of my line. I headed back to the camp and began slow-roasting the fish over a fire. When it was done I cut it in half and ate half of the fish. I left the rest for Thalia. After that I went for a walk on the beach. The sea reminded me of Percy and generally helped clear my head. But this time it didn't work. My thoughts raced around my head like cars on a race track. Why was I here? Where was I? What was going to become of me? Suddenly the world went the colour of parchment. It was covered in little markings. A map!

I sprinted back to camp where Thalia was sitting, finishing off her fish. She had managed to catch another one and was watching it cook. I was relieved by this. I have a really fast metabolism so I was hungry all over again. My willpower crumbled.

We munched in silence, while Thalia regarded the map with caution.

"Our best bet is to follow it." She said finally.

I packed the few items I had managed to salvage from the wreckage in an old Waterland backpack from last year. I packed 2 pairs of clean clothes, a book to read if I got bored, a bag of ambrosia squares, a flask of nectar and my navy blue, New York, Yankees cap. It was a birthday present from my mother and made the wearer invisible. I also carried a leather pouch of gold drachmas in my pocket and a bronze knife up my sleeve. Originally, the Ancient Greek drachmas were silver but the Olympians would accept nothing but the finest Imperial gold.

We started off on a thin, dusty, dirt track, trudging through the early morning fog. We walked for about a mile, and then sat down on the soft white sand of Serpent Bay. We ate a cheeseburger each, drank a coke, and watched a Sea Serpent erupt from the depths of the ocean.

Then Thalia, like the idiot she was, claimed that her water bottle was empty, even though I had checked it just a minute before and it was nearly full. She trudged towards a huge pit of sand and the second she set foot on that sticky sand, she was trapped by its forbidding grip.

I stared at her, too stunned to speak. Thalia, of course, was not. She stood there, shrieking, writhing, struggling, and doing whatever she could to escape that pit of doom. Suddenly, something clicked in my mind. I sprang into action, tying together bits of driftwood, old cloth, bits of rope washed up on the beach. Soon Thalia was released from the pit's powerful grip. She was fine. Sticky, smelly and downright unpleasant but fine all the same.

After a quick change of clothes and half a square of ambrosia for Thalia we continued walking. Thalia whined on and on about her stupid leather jacket. Luckily I managed to blot her out. (I guess spending all this time with Percy has taught me something.

We trekked onwards, soon coming to a long stretch of trees with a wall of stones at the end. A sort of ally. A deathly silence hung in the air. It was suddenly broken by a rustle in the trees behind us. We whirled around and found ourselves face to face with a rather fat drakon. I guess I'm going to have to tell you about drakons. Don't even think about comparing them to dragons. Believe me these things would eat up Puff the magic dragon in one gollop. They have razor sharp teeth as long as swords and spit acid powerful enough to burn through slabs of Imperial gold. They don't look so good either. Of course it wouldn't help that they are basically 16 foot long, giant boa constricters.

All of a sudden, something clicked in my mind. It happened to Thalia too. We sprang into action. Thalia killed three in a single shot of an arrow and I stabbed one so hard that the tip of my dagger appeared out of the other side of its jaw. We were fighting pretty well until I tripped over Thalia's boot and found myself on the ground covered in drool. But not just any drool. Drakon drool. Not the most pleasant experience, believe me. Its breath stank of rotting meat and its eyes were cracked and bloodshot. Suddenly a silver arrow materialized in the drakons eye. Luckily the creature began to disintegrate. Not so luckily, all over me.

After a swim in the lake, a change of clothes and a square of ambrosia we trekked onwards. We soon came to a large forest where the trees grew so close together there seemed no way in. But as we approached the trees parted as though inviting us to enter. Somehow I wish we had just kept walking, away from the forest, the island and all the horrors that awaited us in that dark, gloomy place.

The silence in the forest was deafening, nothing like the cartoon forests in Snow White or The Lion King. The trees were dead and knarled and wolves howled in the distance. We clung to each other's hands, turning our heads nervously from side to side. There was a sudden loud rustle in the bushes behind us. We whirled around and found ourselves staring at the most terrifying creature I had ever seen in my life. It looked like something off the cover of _Muscle Magazine. _Its arms, legs and chest looked as though there were baseballs stuffed under the thick ropey skin. Course brown hair started around its belly button and got thicker as it reached its shoulders. It had the head of the fiercest toughest bullyou will probably ever see in your life. A large gold ring hung from the beasts snorting nose. I had seen a monster like this before. It was the dreaded _Minotaur._ His stuck his nose in the air and began taking deep breaths as though trying to find a specific scent in the air. Then, as if on cue, he pawed the ground, put his head down and charged. We quickly stepped to the side, Thalia shooting it in the eye. While it was disorientated I stabbed it in the ribs, digging the blade in under the monsters ribs. It fell to the ground and began to break away in chunks. Me and Thalia high-fived each other and ran through the forest as fast as we could. We didn't want to run into any other monsters. We exited the woods near the ruins of a large castle. We headed towards it, curious about what could be enclosed behind those rotting oak doors.

One kick and the doors gave way. We entered, shivering. You have no idea how cold 3000 year old dance halls get over the years. We suddenly heard the slam of the door and the click of it locking. Thalia ran forward and tried to open the door. Smoke poured out from the keyhole, forming a figure who told us this riddle:

_The many-headed hydra holds your fate,_

_Retrieve the key before it's too late._

_Slay this beast and cross the bridge,_

_The treasure is found on the eastern ridge._

Wes stared at each other, puzzled. Thalia turned the doorknob again. Nothing happened.

"Well I guess we should slay this hydra thingy, then." Said Thalia.

"You have no idea what you're doing, do you?"

"Nope!"

We headed towards the main hall which had all these staircases leading out of it. At the top of the stairs a sudden roaring broke out at the top of the staircase. There was heavy stomping above and suddenly the


End file.
